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Depp Trying to 'Right the Wrongs of the Past' With Tonto

ICTMN Staff

6/10/13

The Summer 2013 issue of UK magazine Total Film features a cover story on The Lone Ranger, and within its pages actor Johnny Depp (who plays Tonto), director Gore Verbinski and producer Jerry Bruckheimer all offer comments on the making of the probable blockbuster.

DEPP: "Since cinema has been around, Native Americans have been treated very poorly by Hollywood. ... What I wanted to do was play Tonto not as a sidekick -- like, 'Go fetch a soda for me, boy!' -- but as a warrior with integrity and dignity. It's my small sliver of a contribution to try to right the wrongs of the past."

VERBINSKI: "This film, it could be called 'Tonto and the Masked Man.' We kept all the archetypes -- the white hat, the silver bullet, the white horse, but we created them through the thread of Tonto. ... This is an origin story, and it was Tonto that created the Lone Ranger."

Bruckheimer, meanwhile, has commented publicly that he would like for The Lone Ranger to become a franchise. “Hopefully, the Lone Ranger will continue,” he said on Sunday, according to Variety. "If the audience likes the movie then Disney will come to me and we’ll make another or it will be a one off."

Mr Depp is an entertainer, so the movie is entertainment. Like all entertainers, he is paid for his entertaining us. That's it. No need to read or fix other issues onto the movie designed as entertainment. Have fun.

A white guy... a Brit to boot.... plays an aboriginal...? Nope!!! Not going to pay any amount of money to see this.... How about getting a german guy to play a jew in the next holocaust movie.... Or a scotsman for the next hispanic tap dancer... Or an Aussie for the next Italian mob boss....

I'm really over it, as a descendent of Geronimo, i can honestly say that the Jewish typical smuck's of Hollywood, are going to do what ever the eff they want with the already horrible shit they put out. If it insult's a race of ppl they could give two shit's of a rat's ass. So, fuck it!, put more crap out that makes me not give a shit about going to spend 15-30 dollars at some souped up over price theater...

Happy to see that Mr. Depp is involved in this project. Happy too that the Disney folks are donating the proceeds of the premiere to the American Indian College Fund. It's a cause that most know nothing about. I donate there as well but on a much smaller scale for sure...
Thanks Disney, Depp and everyone involved...
Onatah

If Mr. Depp wants to make a difference then he should put up his Money or shut up, tired of reading they want to help right a wrong.Action is what is needed. They the movie stars have clot be they never use it to help right any wrong just to line their own pockets. they are not helping in palm springs Calif .where Real Americans ( the Native American Indians) are fighting to secure their Water rights nor are they helping in New Mexico where Real Americans and then non real are fighting to stop fracking mining.So Please don't say your trying to right a wrong. If you where you would have help find a Real American to have played the part with Dignity, Mr. Jay Silver Heels played that part with grace and Dignity.you Mr. Depp play it like a ----------( put what ever dumb creature of god name you can think of in the blank space.

Disney, in it's infinite wisdom, has a new tactic on rewriting history. Make a bold change, then change it back. Take the animated movie Brave. On it's release it portrayed a scottish character, a woman, who was bending all the rules, a rebel. Now, in the merchandising phase, she's been rewritten as a typical Disney "princess" complete with gown. What will happen to poor Tonto in the merchandising? Regardless of how Depp portrays the character, it will change back to the same old thing.